December 3, 2008

Brooklyn at Eye Level: Laboratory and blogatory

Brooklyn at Eye Level includes a number of Community Labs connecting artists with local youth groups. Last week author Carl Hancock Rux lead a workshop with students at the Hip-Hop Theater Festival’s affiliate school Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School. The workshop began with a lively discussion exploring neighborhood observations that weaved together notions of community, class, and even perspectives on vacillating trends and personal habits.

After watching Danny Hoch's one-man show about gentrification in Williamsburg, Taking Over, I wondered "if The Civilians, the not-quite-documentary theater troupe working on a project inspired by Atlantic Yards, will capture the layers involved in the AY saga."

Well, we'll see beginning Thursday, when the work-in-progress Brooklyn at Eye Level debuts at the Brooklyn Lyceum. (Reservations required; tickets Thursday-Sunday are pay-what-you-can. More here and here and note that )

While theater can add layers, it also can obscure context, especially if there's no fact-checking. All opinions are not of equal value, especially when an opinion contains facts that are untrue.

“Ratner was trying to help all these people. He doesn’t just take your property, he offers fair market value. If you’re gonna say no cuz you wanna be in the way of progress . . ." That's one Proud Brooklynite's take on Atlantic Yards, as dramatized by the upcoming production Brooklyn at Eye Level, a theatrical investigation of the real estate development.